Tag: kaveh akbar
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2025 Tournament of Books: James vs. Martyr! (again)
OK, there’s not much point rehashing what I said the last time these two faced off. I still think James is the better book. My judgment on the judgment This is a vote by all the judges, and since last year I did a handy little table, I figured I’d repeat that again this year. I…
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2025 Tournament of Books: Martyr! vs. Margo’s Got Money Troubles
The zombie round always throws weird little twists into the mix. Last year, my picks to face off in the finals were eliminated before they got to the finals but re-emerged as zombies. This year, one was eliminated in an upset, but will face my other pick for the finals in tomorrow’s round, meaning today…
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2025 Tournament of Books: James vs. Martyr!
I kind of feel like there is only one book that comes close to meeting James in terms of excellence and lasting impact out of the books of 2024, and that’s Martyr! but at the same time, I also feel like this it’s mostly because of the promise that Martyr! shows for Akbar’s oeuvre going forward, so for…
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2025 Tournament of Books: Martyr! vs. Beautyland
Today’s matchup gives us a pair of weird literary novels, each weird in their own way and they were both books that I loved, so it made for a difficult choice. I think, though, that Akbar’s prose was just a touch more to my delight even if the coincidence central to the plot was maybe…
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2025 Tournament of Books: Martyr! vs. Rejection
Today’s matchup is a pair of debuts. Kaveh Akbar is a well-known poet making his debut as a novelist while Tony Tulathimutte whose story, “The feminist,” brought him some notoriety makes his book-length debut with a collection of linked stories. Both books caught my attention before this year’s Tournament of Books (I’m apparently becoming increasingly…
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My favorite reads of 2024
Somehow, this year, I managed to blow past my previous records for numbers of books read and end the year with 154 books read. As usual, a full accounting of the books is at Goodreads. My favorite books of the year, in no particular order. The Wedding People by Alison Espach. This starts out seeming…